


People of Ukerra

by theasteroidbelt



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Legends, Mystical Creatures, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 19:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14432565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theasteroidbelt/pseuds/theasteroidbelt
Summary: Some general worldbuilding details. Set within our original world of Ukerra, the stage of the comic we are producing (links can be found on this account's profile.)





	1. Humanoids

The world of Ukerra has an incredibly diverse population of many different lifeforms. Of these lifeforms, there are multiple sentient races that make up society as a whole, most of whom live in peace in the current time. More than a hundred years into the fourth age - few live under the stress of war, although there are some countries that suffer from pervasive corruption.

Humans are, by a very large margin, the most common of people groups and make up over 70% of the world’s population. Feliken are the rarest, and constitute less than 0.2%. Other races make up varying percentages although the elusive Naga tend to keep to themselves, being the only non bi-pedal race integrated into society.

Avesians are known as a regal, ancient race, but their genetic lines have become so diluted over the past 1000 years that they are no longer capable of flight, as their ancestors - great, winged beings - once were. Saurolins tend to prefer subterranean lifestyles as sunlight can be harsh on their scales, but they often come into the aboveground cities at night for leisure activities.

The Fae are a delicate, halfling race, while the Halar are tall and thickly set, often rumored to be descended from giants. These two races were once constantly at war with one another, but have found peaceful times in the modern age. They tend to complement each other’s strengths well, in fact, and the most prosperous city on the mainland is governed by a council of Fae, Halar, and Humans.


	2. Creatures

Not all Ukerran lifeforms find their places in modern society. There are many creatures with dubious sentience… and little interest in communing peacefully with others. Willowisps are perhaps portrayed most benevolently by the media, though approaching them does not come without its own dangers.  
Dragons have been hunted nearly to extinction, though there is evidence that they are not as beastly-minded as they appear. There are some old stories that tell of dragons and their riders, but the validity of these tales is questionable at best.

Ghouls, Shapeshifters, and Dryads prowl the wilds of the world. These creatures are monstrous, often preying on humanoid life and serving as the fodder of dire warnings to keep children out of the woods at night. They possess powerful magics and immense physical strength. If you encounter one alone… you will never be heard from again.

Vampirism, as a disease, originated within the island country of Leidoa and affects humans primarily, though little is known about it otherwise. The afflicted often experience a fabled “partial death” and consume the blood of their victims while also acquiring a severe weakness to sunlight.  
Lycanthropy - also Leidoan in origin - affects humans infected by the bite of a transformed werewolf. Such individuals will undergo a painful transformation, up to thrice a year, under each of the three moons.  
Both Vampirism and Lycanthropy isolate those afflicted and drive them from society; though werewolves are often able to remain in contact with their loved ones on the fringes of urban populations.


	3. Legends

Ukerra is an old world. Thousands of years have been lost to the sands of time, through the burning of old writings, the fading of old tales… but there are stories of both peoples and monsters that still persist, enchanting those who care to delve into history to find their hidden secrets.

The great Seaserpents were vile, malevolent horrors that roamed the darkest depths of the sea. They were rumored to be responsible for the maelstroms that once sank ancient craft, and even suspected to be the culprits behind the slaughter of the ocean’s kindest children, the Selkies.  
Selkies were a gentle people; able to freely change between the shapes of humans and seals, and grew to enormous sizes, larger than ships, when they lived their immortal lives to the fullest.

Few grieved the Selkies more deeply than the merfolk. The less benevolent people of the sea, the merfolk were often war-torn, divided over whether to commune with humanoids of the lands above water or to slaughter them out of fear for their way of life. It is possible that the curious, the compassionate, the forbearing merfolk prevailed… and that is what cost them their civilization. There are few advantages that the surface dwellers would have not attempted to exploit in ancient times. The merfolk, now only legends, may have fallen prey to such intentions.

Sirens are known to have plagued the oceans as well, but they seemingly vanished in recent times, and scholars are now theorizing that the stories of their treacherous ways may have been exaggerated, to say the least. It has been proposed that Sirens were framed for the murders of undesirables to spare their accusers from the justice of the law, and as a result, they withdrew from their old way of life and integrated into society, albeit secretly. The truth of their history is still being unraveled, but to every humanoid who may feel entranced by a friend with a particularly beautiful voice… there is always a chance such curiosities are more than meets the eye.

It is known for certain however, that giants once lived in the lands of Ukerra, particularly the mainland. Their peoples have not so much been lost, but rather, their ancestry diluted in the same way of the Avesians, and believed to have passed on to their legacy race, the Halar. Giants’ tools and camps are often uncovered in excavation sites, and are the source of much discussion and study within historical research.  
Centaurs are believed to have roamed the wilds and plains of Ukerra’s landforms in eras past, but there is very little evidence that they are anything but extinct. Possible records dating back millennia suggest they died out during the Great Wars before Heida’s Peace was decreed over all peoples. If any centaurs remain in the world, they are well hidden away, possibly in magic-veiled valleys away from prying eyes.

Elemental spirits, sometimes speculated to be the predecessors to willowisps, drift across time as easily as they do the surface of the world. Many modern magical practices were developed through observing these creatures, so their existence is not so much in doubt as it is shrouded in mystery. Commanding the most basic forms of power, such as fire, water, wind - they are ethereal beings most elusive to mortal-kind. They seem neither benign nor malicious, merely bystanders as the world ages and ever changes, but perhaps there are secrets that were never meant to be learned, regarding the ways of the Elementals.


End file.
